Wednesday, 30 October 2013

Five For Free #239

Diane Coffee - Hymn

The pause between Foxygen records is proving to be quite exciting, with Jonathan Rado releasing some great solo material, Sam France possibly starting a project with Elizabeth Fey, and Shaun Fleming making some stunning sounds under the alias Diane Coffee. 'Hymn' is from album 'My Friend Fish' and is a mixture of Beach House, classic soul and magical songwriting.

Yet more instantly lovable indiepop from Melbourne. 'Bass Drum' is the catchy, lively, irresistible new single from quintet Fiig (who formerly went by the name Atluk) and is taken from their debut album 'Largely Happy'. They began by winning the Melbourne Fresh Band Competition in 2011, and on the evidence of this bright and breezy pop it's easy to see why.

Although based in London, the seeds for Lux Lisbon were sown in Nottingham, a city that's really on the map when it comes to new music right now. The group release the unusual, slightly spooky alt-rock of 'Demons You Show' this week. With a certain cinematic element to their sound (which adds welcome individuality) this cracking video is a perfect accompaniment.

Because of the lyrics it's difficult not to think of The Rolling Stones' 'Miss You' when listening to The Gravity Drive's new single 'Circles', but one fairly common repeated phrase doesn't make for much of a comparison, and musically this is vastly different. Instead of classic rock, 'Circles' is a song that reaches across, alt-pop, folk and dreampop to create something with a subtle beauty.

Japanese fuzz-rock/pop/shoegaze band Taffy showed with their album 'Lixiviate' that they can do '90s guitar music better than many who did it the first time around. This week they release a new single from the album, 'Train', and are also giving away its closing track, the melodic scuzz-bomb of 'No Endings But Only The Beginnings', both from one of the most underrated albums of the year.